1. Filed of the Invention
The invention relates to a diagnosis facility and a diagnostic method for monitoring the performance of a technical plant with an automation system.
2. Description of the Related Art
Maintenance and servicing of automation technology equipment can be improved if the correct function of subsystems of components is monitored. In the event of decreased functionality, action can be taken at the correct place in the plant in a targeted manner with measures for maintenance, servicing, or correcting a fault.
The paper “Monitoring of Complex Industrial Processes based on Self-Organising Maps and Watershed Transformations” by Christian W. Frey, Fraunhofer Institute IOSB, 11.03.2016, discloses a diagnostic method for monitoring complex industrial processes, in which method a self-organizing map is trained for a fault-free performance of the process via process variables, i.e., using the acquired values for measured values and the values for the controlling variables that have been transmitted to the process. According to the Wikipedia entry, accessed on Apr. 3, 2016, the term “self-organizing maps”, Kohonen maps or Kohonen networks (after Teuvo Kohonen; English self-organizing map, SOM or self-organizing feature map, SOFM) denotes a type of artificial neuron networks. As an unsupervised learning method, they are a powerful data-mining tool. Their functional principle is based on the biological finding that many structures in the brain have a linear or planar topology. Using the self-organizing map predetermined according to the above paper, the subsequent operational performance is compared with the learned fault-free performance. In this way, any divergent performance, which can be subsequently analyzed for causes and possible faults in the performance of the process, can be detected.
However, the disadvantage in the conventional diagnostic method is that the time response of a process that is running on a technical plant, which could possibly likewise supply helpful information for a diagnosis, is not taken into consideration.